EX-DMV SUPERVISOR CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY

A former supervisor for the California Department of Motor Vehicles offices in El Cajon and Rancho San Diego was charged Monday in a federal criminal complaint with participating in a bribery conspiracy that resulted in applicants fraudulently obtaining driver’s licenses.

The bribes ranged from $75 to $600 for regular licenses and up to $3,000 for commercial licenses, U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy said in a statement. The bribes totaled more than $100,000.

The supervisor, Jesse Mario Bryan, 36, was arrested Monday by FBI agents and DMV investigators, authorities said. He is one of nine defendants named in the complaint. Also arrested Monday was Alexander Gonzalez, 43, who is accused of recruiting applicants for the fraudulent licenses.

The fraud involved both written tests and driving tests for regular and commercial driver’s licenses.

In a related case last year, the U.S. Attorneys Office indicted 21 defendants on conspiracy to commit bribery in the scheme, including five employees at the DMV offices in El Cajon and Rancho San Diego.

Susan Shroder • U-T

Suspect in wife’s stabbing death has preliminary hearing

San Diego

A Superior Court hearing began Monday for the man accused of fatally stabbing his 19-year-old estranged wife and then fleeing to Mexico, where he remained a fugitive for more than a year.

Armando Gabriel Perez, 39, faces a murder charge stemming from the Oct. 12, 2010, death of Diana Gonzalez. The couple married in December 2009, about a week after the birth of their daughter.

Gonzalez’s body was found in a men’s restroom at San Diego City College, where she was taking evening classes. She had been stabbed multiple times.

San Diego Judge Robert O’Neill is expected to decide at the end of the preliminary hearing whether prosecutors presented enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

Gonzalez’s family members testified Monday that they knew of previous incidents in which Perez had injured his wife, prompting her to move with their child back into her parents’ home.

She filed a temporary restraining order against her husband after an incident in September 2010, in which she reported to police that Perez had kidnapped and assaulted her.

Concepcion Carranza testified that her daughter came home in September 2010 after being missing for a few days. She said she saw red dots all over her daughter’s face, and learned moments later from her daughter that Perez had choked her.

Testimony is expected to continue Wednesday.

Dana Littlefield • U-T

Child sex trafficker sentenced to 12½ years in federal prison

San Diego

A San Diego man convicted of exploiting a 14-year-old to engage in prostitution was sentenced Monday to 12 years and six months in prison, federal officials said.

Randy Martell Ballard, 28, also known as “Jazmin Davis,” pleaded guilty in November to sex trafficking of children, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement.